The night (coordinated by The Future Sound Project) began with a set from Oversight, an indie rock quartet, playing crowd-pleasing covers such as ‘Chelsea Dagger’ by The Fratellis and ‘Monkey Wrench’ by the Foo Fighters that encompassed the raw energy of garage bands. Their desire to play was not stopped even by tech issues. A personal highlight was their cover of ‘Dakota’ by Stereophonics which realised the wailing and heartbroken energy of Kelly Jones, seeing guitarist Scarl and singer Charis showcase different dimensions to their voices. Oversight peaked with their final cover of ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’ which grabbed the attention of the room, showcasing Scarl’s talent with the opening riff and saw the band’s most animated performance.
Necklace continued the night with their emotional brand of original surfer indie rock which had the crowd’s attention from the start. With a sound that echoed artists from Spacey Jane to The Wombats and Hockey Dad (further reinforced by the merch sported by singer Finn), they ended on a high with their cover of ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ by the Courteeners, their single ‘Smile’ and a further unreleased original.
Last Conspiracy were the third act of the night, opening their set with Audioslave’s ‘Cochise’. Heavier than previous performances of the night, the repeated build and release of tension kept the audience on their toes. Closing their set with an original, if the influences of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave and Royal Blood on their music weren’t already explicit in their choice of covers, their own writing clearly articulated a combination of these artists grounded in punchy instrumentals.
The final support act of the night, Anotha, opened with a cover of ‘Everlong’ that refocused the evening on anthem-rock and pop-rock arrangements. Anotha brought a boho energy to the evening and delivered a uniquely ambitious and powerful vocal performance. The crowd were fully engrossed in their setlist from the first notes, feeding off the confidence, energy and stage presence of their frontwoman, reaching a sing-a-long frenzy for the iconic ‘Teenage Dirtbag’.
Headliners POWR took to the stage with a cover of ‘American Idiot’, subsequently followed by other pop-punk and rock hits such as ‘First Date’ by blink-182 and ‘The Pretender’ by the Foo Fighters. Singer Jamie Wilson delivered a standout vocal performance, well suited to the pop-punk tone and sympathetic to the intonation of the tracks’ original singers without feeling like a tribute act. The rest of the band continued this precedent, choosing songs such as ‘Bullet in the Head’ and ‘Figure It Out’ which showcased their collective talents while still putting their own spin on them, oozing character and swagger throughout. Their original song fit naturally within their setlist of covers, the crowd participating in the same way as they did with their run of pop-punk and rock staples. The clearly accented stabs of ‘shut up’ had the crowd sing with them with as much conviction as they had for the call and response in their rendition of ‘Hitching a Ride’. Such a glowing reception clearly fuelled the confidence of the band, making meta odes to their mistakes and flaws in their performance in a self-aware way that is reminiscent of the satirical attitude of blink-182. The range of genre within their performance contextualised the variety in the acts that preceded them, and all in all delivered a stunning first headline performance.